DUSHANBE, August 31, 2012, Asia-Plus  -- Fifteen persons are standing trial for membership in the banned Islamist organization Jamaat Ansarullah.

Their trial has begun in the Supreme Court of Tajikistan.

A source at the Supreme Court says most of those on trial were arrested last year during a special operation targeting Mullo Abdullo and his confederates in the Rasht Valley (eastern Tajikistan).

“The trail is being held behind closed doors, and therefore, no details will be given until passing of sentence,” the source noted.

It is the first trial of suspected members of Jamaat Ansarullah since it was banned in Tajikistan in May this year.

According to the Prosecutor-General’s Office of Tajikistan, Jamaat Ansarullah is the branch of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) and it is financed by Al-Qaeda network. 

Jamaat Ansarullah became known in Tajikistan after the group claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing in the northern Tajik city of Khujand at the start of September 2010.  International media sources reported Ron September 9, 2010 that unknown Islamist militant group that called itself Jamaat Ansarullah in Tajikistan claimed responsibility for the suicide car bombing in Khujand, the capital of Sughd province.  Jamaat Ansarullah in Tajikistan, in a statement on the unofficial Islamist website www.kavkazcenter.com, said a single suicide bomber drove a car into the police station in Khujand on September 3 and blew himself up.

Besides, Jamaat Ansarullah last year issued several videos calling on Tajik nationals to embrace holy war.

Meanwhile, an official site of Jamaat Ansarullah – www.irshod.com -- is still available to visitors in Tajikistan.  This website should have been blocked in May following ruling handed down by the Supreme Court.  The Communications Service under the Government of Tajikistan was ordered to block the websites www.irshod.com and www.irshod.net which are considered to be mouthpiece for Jamaat Ansarullah.  However, the website www.irshod.com still remains available to visitors in Tajikistan.

Since 2000, Tajik authorities have banned more than 10 Islamic groups and organizations, including Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, Jamaat Tablig, and Hizb ut-Tahrir.